G,day guys,,

Looking for a bit of help,, Went to start the bike today to run around and warm it up so I could change the oil,well nothing,,, Hit the start button and it sounds like the starter motor is making a kind of whirring noise but not turning the motor over.
Battery seems to be ok according to my mutli meter and even tried my jump start pack.
Same noise, head light is bright and every thing seems ok, so that's what makes me think starter motor, does the starter motor have brushes in it ?? and what could I do to check it , Pulled the coil cover off and cann see two allen head cap screws at the rear of it , if I undo them will that let the starter motor come out ?? or is there something else I can check, thing is I rode it home and it sat for a week , I did pull the battery out and put it on the charger , so thinking all is good in that department ,,,any help would be great ,,cheers Ballsy Perth

The sprag clutch between the starter motor and the crank shaft is slipping and not gripping.
They changed the design in 1986.
To pull it out & clean it is a BIG job & may not fix the problem
I have been through this a few times.
When it went on my 1984 motor cleaning did not fix the problem.
Cost of new sprag clutch 12 years ago was $450
I fitted a K1100 motor for &1100
Have fun
PJ
In Gladstone SA

Thanks mate,,
I read through a few posts on here and am going to pull the starter motor out and have a squiz,

You will need to pull the following:
Rear wheel
Swing arm & final drive
Gear box
Clutch plate
Fly wheel
Fly wheel housing
And then you will see the sprag clutch

Have fun
Peter

Yup definetly the sprag clutch.
i have had the same problem from time to time , but since i started using  synthetic oil it works every time , others have. Used diesel engine oil with succes , it seems there is a high level of detergent in the diesel engine oil.

k-rider

Yep I have been using passenger car diesel oil for some time now with out a problem
Peter

Bump start it and "Ride it like you stole it", that combined with using diesel oil in the engine usually sorts it.
Search through the forum for previous posts.

 

Well you were going to do an oil change so go and buy some oil for light diesels as peter said ordinary diesels in a car.
Change the oil and then bump start it and go for a good long ride making sure that there is a convenient hill to restart at each stop.

The diesel oil has high detergent content and cleans out the gunk around the sprag clutch that stops it working as well as all the engine. You can keep running it if you want or every 3rd or 4th change it helps keep the engine clean.

You may have to bump start once or twice more but it works fairly quickly.

Thanks guys,,,

Bit of an update,, what gives me the shits is I just bought some Penrite HPR diesel synthetic to put in the bloody thing, if it had have started that once according to what everyones saying it might have fived a problem I never new I had...lol
I pulled the starter motor out and cleaned it,, bench ran it no probs,,put it back in , hit the starter and yep you can hear the starter motor running but that's it.
So,,hmm bump start it and ride and see what happens seems to be what everyone recons so worth a try.
I live on a hill so that's not a problem,if it doesn't start it will take me 3 days to push it back up the bloody hill,
Anyway next Saturday morning I,II be up early ,before anyone gets up to watch me,, lol and give it a go.
So apart from doing that is there no other way apart from pulling the whole thing to bits , Theres no way to do anything through the hole where the starter motor spline goes ????

Cheers guys

Put it in 5th gear and bump it backwards a bit, that puts the sprag in a different position and it might grab. always worth a try.

Check the crank power of your battery (not only voltage) BMW and Harley need stronger hit than other bikes. I had problems with sprag clutch after installing a battery with 180 instead 300 plus crank amps. Maybe you can swap with somebody just for test.
Cheers